Four Lions Review

Four Lions

Sitting down to write this review has been difficult in two ways (hopefully that's an in joke my mates will notice....) both in terms of the films subject and actually writing it up, hopefully it's a task I'll overcome over the developing review.

Imdb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1341167/

Trailer: http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1479252249/ (Does contain a few spoilers to be fair, I would give it a miss if I'm honest)

This is a film that is overtly British, I don't mean to come over sounding too patriotic when I state this but, I genuinely believe that Britain is the only country that would be able to pull of a film of this sort. We are a country almost based on comedy, constantly ripping into ourselves, but even for us this is one hell of a touchy subject. Making a comedy about suicide bombers on British soil? Jeez, thank god it's actually funny.

The films director Christopher Morris is one very talented man, a quick look on his IMDB page shows up links ranging from Writing to Composing, but this is his first full length feature film, previously working on UK comedy TV shows and one short film from way back in 2002. It's not only the director that is of UK comedy decent or uprising, the film has writers from contemporary comedy classics: Peep Show, The Thick of It, That Mitchell and Webb look and some dabbles in children comedy shows. It's no surprise that there are some few comedy stars in it as well, one such person is the Kayvan Novak, a person who's name and face you might not know. However, the likelihood of you having heard his voice, or rather one of his voices might be slightly higher, it's Phonejacker/Facejacker, in Four Lions there are also some heavy hitters such as Nigel Lindsay but on the other hand there are some fairly unknowns as well.

Four Lions Review

As I said before, writing this was difficult in two very different ways mainly because of it's topic as I stated above, but also because it's bizarrely average, whilst still being hysterical. Don't get me wrong, the film is good, but that's all it is really, I have no idea how to sum it up or but it any way other than that blunt. There's not much in my notes other than “Hysterical” and “Hy-bloody-sterical”. And with the time ticking down before the deadline of this review I have no idea if that's a good thing or a bad thing, I mean sure, it definitely made me laugh out loud on more than one occasion, but does that constitute achieving a good “grade” in comedy? Well yes and no, it made me laugh so it did in that retrospect, but Four Lions also tries to engage on an emotional level various times throughout the film.

I was bonding with the characters and almost willing them not to be failures (Note: That's no spoiler, one look at the rag tag bunch is all you need to know you're in for an entertaining movie), but then again, that completley goes against every moral fibre in my body. Surely I didn't want innocent people to die just for a sake of some laughs? It's a heavy debate for sure, but it's one that other films or TV shows have asked before and answered. For instance, Dexter raised the same question (for those who don't know, I cannot recommend Dexter enough, quite literally one of the best TV shows since, well, time began) in that he's got the whole moral quandaries down to a tee, I guess imitation is the sincerest form of flattery in this case. I don't know why Four Lions doesn't achieve this, but the only thing I can put my finger and blame it on is that frankly burgeoning on terrible ending, it's just one that isn't satisfying enough, you've been on a journey with these incredibly charming and strong characters but then they kind of fizzle out into a big pile of nothingness( again, don't worry, it's not a spoiler). It's like a firework, the description on the bag spouting awesome phrases, but sometimes it's the hype that lets it down, it's still good, but not as good as you thought it could be.

That's a lesson I've definitely taken on board this year, so many movies I've not gone to watch at the cinema when they were first released but I've waited until they've come out on DVD, and they've become one of my favourite films. Unfortunately, Four Lions isn't one, but as I said before it's not bad, it's extremely funny but just a bit “meh”. This all must be very confusing for you dear readers, because I still don't know what to make of it all myself, trying to write a comprehensive review of this made my mind one big clusterfuck. I guess one could describe Four Lions as jumping the gun a bit too early, a bit to ahead of it's times but also doesn't exactly deliver the goods. I would recommend this film but just keep your hype level and expectancy low, it's a good film, but I highly doubt I will remember much about it by the end of the year.

Well besides probably the best quote on film this year “FUCK MINI BABY-BELLS!”.

-Adam Dean.

P.S I hope everyone is looking forward to MUH as much as I am, watching them before them before I go to bed could turn out very interesting to say the very least.

Make sure you post what film you want to be reviewed next week, voting closes Thursday 28TH of October.

Oh and Happy Mother in Law day.....Some jokes just don't even need to be spoken.

The Expendables Review

The Expendables

Hey everyone, I originally wasn't going to actually do a review for The Expendables but after sitting down to watch it and quite literally getting the biggest 'WTF' moment I've had this year (within the first five minutes, no less), I was like a moth to a flame. I just had to write this up.

Boy am I glad I did.

The Expendables

Imdb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1320253/

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6RU5y2fU6s

This film is completely about finding and developing new stars for Hollywood, this is a film starring the actors of tomorrow...end joke. We all know who these guys are, the film knows that we know who these guys are, so there isn't much point in giving a detailed overview of the actors/directors involved. Check out the trailer above, it's a Hollywood line-up of manly men, the only person missing is the hulk.

This plot of this film is your typical group of mercenaries get sent to other throw some political dictator, that’s when the proverbial plop hits the fan. Explosions, guns and fist fights swiftly follow. The group is leaded by the one and only Rocky Balboa, oh sorry, Barney Ross (just imagine the mix between Barney the Dinosaur and Ross from friends, and then set fire to it). Portrayed by Stallone you know this film is about as manly as a fight to the death. With fists. Whilst on fire. Whilst riding a dinosaur. With Lasers on it's back. The great thing about this film is that instead of being set in the far east in a country only known as Generistan, it's actually set in the South American country of Generiville. So at least that's sort of original.

Review

I do have to make an apology for this review, instead of making notes whilst watching the film about the characters, the plot, the cinematography or whatever. I actually wrote more of a play by play instead of a formal review. Well, that's what I intended to do, before I actually got into the film.

Is it possible for me to slag off Stallone without me being hung, drawn and quartered? No? Well I'm going to do it anyway, I don't know whether or not he designed his own costume for this film or he had someone do it for him, but whoever did it needs to be fired. He looks like a ghetto gay pirate from jersey. Who has just been injected with an elephant level amount of steroids, honestly I was quite scared by him and his extraordinarily profound veins.

I'm only eight minutes in and I think I may have already grown another set of testicles from the amount of machismo flying around. I mean, the only people who don't actually have a mono-chromatic voice and a constant amount of 5 'O' clock shadow are Jet Li and Jason Statham, but that's only because they have borderline offensive accents, come on Statham doesn't even have that posh British accent, the one that frankly just doesn't even exist. C'mon America, we do in fact have more that one accent you know.

Oh expendables, I genuinely scoffed at the trailer when some fake actress pretending a part of the UK public, excitedly shouted “It's got everyone in it!”. Does that instantly make it good? Just because it's got big names, it means it's automatically entertaining and worth my money?

The Governator has just walked through a door......of a church....with a surprising amount of light behind him, the symbolism isn't lost on me. Arnie is a god, from his Austrian farmers accent to his stupendously bad catch-phrases. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate Arnie, I love him, I think he is pure film gold. For me he a great summation of the phrase “Guilty Pleasures”, he's everything a action hero should be, whilst maintaining a somewhat aura of stupidity about him, he quite frankly is hysterical.

Arnie's just left the church, that was kind of pointless, except it did allow for one great self-aware joke, I’m not going to ruin it here, but I did laugh out loud when I heard it.

Jesus Christ, I was meant to be making notes about this film just to end up slating it, but it felt like no time at all since I was sniggering at Arnie's face, I just looked at the clock and it's around an hour later. I intended to write this film review in a bad light, saying it was crap, even before I had watched it. I guess the old proverb “Don't judge a book by it's cover” especially rings through here and twice as loud. There's a reason this film contains all these stars, it's because they are 'Veterans' and they're the best in the business, that statement also goes for the crew who worked on the film. With the incredibly well choreographed fight scenes, the awesome stunts, the thrilling soundtrack and the genuinely funny jokes. For this, I apologise to that woman in the advert that said it had everyone in it, I obviously didn't understand it, I still despise her though because she was an actress.

Hollywood knows action, it also knows mild gore, and it knows stars. In a way this film is an embodiment of Hollywood, but for men. It's reckless, mindless fun and entertainment. It knows it's target audience well and by god does it deliver right to their doorstep. In this particular case, mindless is by no means an insult, but that doesn't make it a compliment either. It's just what 'The Expendables' is, because it's exactly what it was designed to be. This is not an art-house film, it's not going to win a tonne of Oscars, comparing this to the art-house scene is like standing in a museum looking out at a theme park, you can stare at the Mona Lisa or the tomb of Tutankhamen for as long as you want, but it won't be long before you will want to just let free and enjoy that theme park. The Expendables is a perfect movie to let your hair down to, it contains some uses of “Movie Science” but that's okay, definitely when it's as thrilling as it is. Dare I say it? The best pure-action film released this year.

In one word this film can be summed up as: Testacular.

For those who don't know Testacular is the manlier version of spectacular, and I for one could not be more happy that they are making a sequel.

-Adam Dean.

Metro 2033

Hello all my beautiful internet readers out there, this is my second review, so I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed making it.

Stalker in the tunnels?

            Trying to sit down to play Metro has been almost as much of a challenge as writing it. This week has been absolutely jam packed with coursework and various other commitments. However when I finally managed to grab some time for myself, I was not disappointed.

            Metro is a game that is quite heavily story driven, but the beauty of this is that the player (you) always feels compelled to continue and unlock the next part. Another interesting thing about Metro is that it has a number of loading screens.

Normally I don’t enjoy loading screens all that much as it takes me out of the ‘flow’ of the game. This was until I came across metro’s loading screens; each loading screen is handled in a very special way. When ever the game is forced to load, THQ in their infinite wisdom have put in a small narrative from Artyom, this helps in two ways. The first thing it does, is take away the idea of the silent hero, which has always annoyed me, and the second thing it does, is it gives a small insight into the story, and how Artyom is feeling/coping with it. I feel this helps bond the player to character that little bit more.

I think now is probably the right time to try and tackle that giant elephant standing in the corner of the room … Stalker. I know that a lot of people are worried that this is essentially ‘Stalker in the tunnels?’ Even though there are stalkers in the game, you will thankfully find that in terms of game play and even story, Metro differs greatly.

I’ll start by listing similarities… and then crushing them completely. Metro has a number of similarities to Stalker, the main one being that both of them are set after some catastrophic atomic event. However the way that Metro goes beyond stalker, is the simple yet effective addition of Gas masks.

Gas masks are a blessing and a curse in Metro. Each time you head above ground … and even the few odd times underground, your character will randomly begin to choke and splutter, signalling the need for you to don your gas mask. The only downside to them is that if you get smashed up enough in combat, there is a chance the sacred mask of life will break … killing you. Another thing that will kill you is running out of filters. If you have not yet played metro, you will not know the sheer terror of checking your watch, and realizing you only have two filters left … especially when there is no metro tunnel in sight.

While above ground, you are exposed to almost anything the game wants to throw at you, from ‘demons’ to strange hairless ape abominations that quite frankly had me wading through irradiated water just so I didn’t have to fight them. But that is the beauty of Metro. Whereas in stalker where once you got an alright gun you felt invincible, the difference is that even with a heavy automatic shotgun, I still found myself sticking to the shadows and trying my best to avoid gunfights.

Another trait that Metro shares with Stalker, are anomalies, these deadly forces of nature can kill pretty much anything that they come into contact with. Sadly though in Metro, the only anomalies that I saw were scripted events relevant to the story, this doesn’t mean it didn’t scare me witless.

I will admit that I was slightly disappointed with the anomalies in metro, as there were only one type, I won’t reveal the type to you, as it is a beautiful moment when you first experience it. But I just feel there was room for a few more.

The final thing that Metro and Stalker share is their use of mutated creatures. The simple difference with Metro is that none of their creatures have strange psychic powers, which while being cool, personally seem a bit bizarre. Metro’s monsters seem a little bit more how I would imagine mutated killing machines; Big scary and a hell of a lot of fun to be chased by.

Speaking of hell, there were a few moments in Metro where I actually felt like Artyom had died and gone to hell, namely when I was faced with killing an enemy, which at the best of times can withstand multiple headshots, with my combat knife. It’s moments like this in metro that remind you Artyom is not invincible and that you the player should realty tread carefully instead of running in guns blazing … as that usually leaves you splattered all over the floor.

A particularly beautiful thing that Metro does is it makes you crave the underground. In no other game have I found myself actively seeking a way to get back underground and away from the sky. Metro manages this in a number of ways, the use of gasmasks as I mentioned earlier, but they use a particularly terrifying creature, dubbed the demon. These beasts fly quick and high, and you only know there is one in the area when it has its claws firmly planted in your spine.

I’ll end the review on one final note. Metro 2033 is not just a first person shooter/horror; it is so much more than that. Sure on the surface with all its nice and dirty guns, it looks like just another gun runner, but pretty early on in the game, you realize it’s not just about killing monsters and trying to stay alive; it’s about how people react in the aftermath of the apocalypse. It is also a look inside the player and how they would react during situations like this. During multiple times in Metro it causes you to choose between self preservation and seemingly great acts of charity.

So go ahead and pick up a copy … if you think you are ready for it.

Seddon

Knight and Day review

Knight and Day

Knight and Day's imdb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1013743/

Well, in terms of actors/actresses I don't think the two main stars need any introductions, it's the worlds favourite walking and waving midget, Tom Cruise as a “suave”, well as suave as a height restricted Scientologist can get (Protip: not very).

Wait, don't go yet! He has a sidekick in this film, and stop the presses, it's a woman, and a blonde woman at that! Straight away you can tell that this film is full of originality, oh Hollywood, how you continue to surprise me with your incredible mediocrity. However, the director might need a small introduction, not to say he hasn't been around for a while, but he ain't no Spielberg. He's James Mangold, from 'Walk the Line' and '3.10 to Yuma' fame, now, I do have to say I particularly loved Walk the Line, but that was probably because it was about Johnny Cash, and it features the absolutely best named person in all of history, Joaquin Phoenix . I've never seen '3.10 to Yuma' but I've heard some good things, I guess he's had some good titles under his belt, but to be frank, this one is more than likely his most mainstream one to date, I mean you don't get more mainstream than Tom frickin Cruise do ya?

I guess this is a classic tale of a woman and a man bump into each other in an airport and they just so happen to be on the same flight, and when they get on that flight they just so happen to be sitting close to each other. Inevitable flirting and drinks follow, until Tom Cruise or, the incredibly hillbilly sounding Roy Miller to give him his characters name, whips out his gun and caps some guys in the face. Now why does Roy go and do that? After all he is the good guy....or is he? That's what the film is about, guessing if Roy is good or bad, which within the first twenty seconds you could've guessed, besides, when would Hollywood cast an american as a bad guy? I thought it was in the job description that they had to be English or at a stretch German.

Review

Sitting down to write this review it was like sitting down to eat a sunday roast, “Where to start? It all looks so good!” it's like that....but in no way at all. I know exactly where to start and that is by slagging off Cruise and Diaz.

Why the hell would you choose these two to act off with each other? Especially Diaz, she isn't exactly prime property anymore, why do you think her last work was a voice-over and not just any voice-over but one for an ugly green ogre, she looks like a half dried out raisin that someone tried to electrocute just so she would stay alive.

Diaz has passed it now, lets just face the fact, this is probably her last hurrah/cash in now that Shrek has bit the dust. Diaz's practically dead face ruins the entire movie, on multiple occasions I was actually drawn out of the viewing experience just to stare at the her jowls and surprisingly strong neck vein things . A once bright and attractive celebrity has fallen prey once again, her face is full of plastic it's hard to tell what emotion she's trying to portray, it's difficult to distinguish whether or not she's going to cry or have a massive dump.

But this is a typical american summer blockbuster, I mean I shouldn't expect more than a 90+ minute mix of guns, explosions and A list celebs. That however is besides the point, especially when Knight and Day tries to be more that what it is, it tries to have the timeless power of James Bond. Which it achieves on no level whatsoever, it's more bland than Bond. It constantly tries to connect with the viewer on an emotional level, but once again fails every time, I mean it's not hard to have some sad piano music play whilst  someone harps on about how sad her life is, that's how you make you make a viewer feel emotional about the characters on screen. Knight and Day fails to even do this, partly because you can't exactly feel sorry for a raisin, and mainly because it's a weak script. You never really care what's being said and can predict what they are going to say before they've said it, it's generic, it's boring and it's full of itself. I guess because the characters are, they are both full of self importance and arrogance. It just seems that Roy and June (Diaz) are just two poor characters, they don't have any charm it's all guns and glory - no emotion.

I guess there is a couple of good things about the film however, mainly the action, well choreographed and with the pumping music you might even sit forward on the edge of your seat, unfortunately it's to see yet another generic bad guy get shot by the impeccable aim of Roy and no hint of real danger for any of the characters. On the other hand, I'm pretty sure that your average twelve year old will love all the cars, explosions and mild peril.

Don't be fooled, this is a summer blockbuster in every sense of the word. It's like a summer fling, it's there to entertain you because you've got six long weeks off, but I guess it does it well, I was genuinely entertained for the last 25 minutes or so, but that doesn't exactly make up for the first 90 minutes of boredom and dry dialogue. This film is a summer fling in the way that you'll watch it and then forget about it sooner or later, so when you walk past it in the supermarket and it calls out your name it all ends up with you having forgotten it's name and then there's 10 minutes of the most awkward of embarrassing silences and what do you get from it in the end? A slap in the face and hate mail from the producers of Knight and Day.*

*Note, that analogy might have been lost somewhere in the shuffle, I don't know whether it makes sense or I'm just drawing on past experiences.

Leave a comment below to let me know what film you want me to review next week, the one with the most votes by Thursday the 21st will be the winner.

City of God Review

 City of God

First review for me so let's hope it goes well, I think I'll outline how these reviews for me will work.

Firstly;

I will give out a link to the film's IMDB page (if it has one), detail some of the directors/actors and some of their notable previous works or upcoming projects.

Secondly;

I will give a very brief synopsis of the film, and don't worry the whole review on this page will be completely spoiler free, sort of like giving out a trailer to the film, but in awesome text form.

Thirdly;

This will be the actual review of the film, featuring dry sarcastic remarks and in jokes between my friends and I. Hopefully after reading it you'll have a good idea about what the film is without spoiling any of the actual storyline.

Well, it's time to start where all good journeys begin, at the beginning.

City of God

IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0317248/

City of God or Cidade de Deus in it's own language or Portuguese is directed by Fernando Meirelles, who is one of my favourite directors constantly keeping the film going with unique and fresh ideas and camera angles to keep the audience's mind awake so they can enjoy all that he offers.

As far as I can see on IMDB, these actors are mostly unknowns and some of them actually live in the real City of God. This adds to the power of the characters, they are all incredibly believable, probably because they can draw parallels from the film and their own life.

That doesn't stop it from telling a brilliant storyline showed quite spectacularly through the eyes of Rocket, the films main character.

Synopsis

The film tells quite possibly one of the most thrilling stories in film, but it's one that on first viewing it confuses a large amount of people. The best way to stop that is to remember the face and name of everyone you see. This is a film that shows the life of “Rocket”, a poor boy who lives in the slums. It showcases where he lives, both in the geographical terms but also in the theological terms, he lives in the City of God. A slum or Favela not far from Rio de Janeiro, Rocket lives in the 1960's at the start of the film and continues throughout his life up until the 1980's. It's a time where drugs are in fashion and to get a hold of them you do anything. Growing up Rocket has a brother who is in a small time gang called the “Tender Trio”, they steal gas canisters from trucks to provide them to the poor locals, sort of like Brazilian Robin Hoods, but instead of bows they use guns. They are very small time gang members, but one of them has an idea, a plan, the film is the journey of that plan and the destructive power it has.

Review

“City of God is like a Brazilian Goodfellas”- Said one reviewer, I disagree, mainly because this film is actually good. I'll leave the hatred of Goodfellas for another time, but I see where they can draw similarities they both show a passage of time inside and outside gangs. Personally I draw one big difference, I like this film, I liked the characters you are meant to like but more importantly I hated the characters you are meant to hate and this is what City of God is all about, the difference between two characters Rocket and L'il Dice. However, that's what makes it spectacular, such a small beginning point but one that slowly unravels over the course of the 130 total running time into one hell of a fast-paced, fresh film. I can't help but think that this has something to do with the power of Meirelles, he knows that in films pacing can just obliterate a movie and that's what he keeps constant. He makes it not feel like a chore watching it, which is something I can't say about some of the films influence. I mean, City of God has a resemblance to Pulp Fiction with the chapters and uber-strong characters and superb scripting (even though City of God has many points that were in fact unscripted), the frame stops when Rocket takes pictures with his fabled camera is also Tarentino's editing style.

That's a nice little segway into the editing to be fair, the editing in this film is superb, once again keeping the overall sense of crispness and pacing up. Just because it has all this art style shots and editing doesn't stop it from being enjoyed by everyone, it has a fair amount of action in it, large amounts of suspense, even more amounts of drama and guess what?

Even more amounts of awesome, that's what.

In all honesty, it's not only one of the best foreign films I've seen, but by far the best film I've seen from Brazil. It's also one of the best films I've ever seen, without a doubt and full stop. It just continues to amaze and entertain throughout, there is not one thing I can really complain about this film, except possibly that it's too short and everything seems to happen at the end a little bit to quickly. Not much of a criticism there though, but the film has made such a vibrant and dangerously exciting world that I want to carry on watching it, definitely a film that lingers on in your mind for the coming days and weeks. Especially those last 5 words that pop up at the very end, it's a beautiful and harrowing ordeal of a movie, kind of like being brutally beaten up by a rainbow...or drowning in a marshmallow. Joking aside, there is something in this film for everyone, from the film buffs that will watch this film repeatedly to pull apart little details scattered throughout to the ones who just want to be entertained on a Saturday night. Don't let the metaphors of rainbows and clouds fool you though, City of God certainly deserves an 18 rating.

I guess my final thoughts and comments are that this film is like bacon, I've never met anyone who doesn't like it.

Except Vegans and Vegetarians, but they don't count, right?
A.Dean

Reach Report

This is my very first internet blog post/Games review ... so bare with me.

G’day all you Lovely internet people out there. Today I will be reviewing the one and only Halo Reach. Now I know what you’re thinking, Reach … The fifth instalment into the halo games, how can Bungie have made any improvements … I mean, just look at the cod games…

            Through sheer skill, that’s how.

Somehow the Good people at Bungie have secured their fifth title as more than a mere re-hash. They have created a fine fitting prequel that their fans have long been hungry for. After the somewhat disappointing ‘Halo: ODST’, Bungie had to do something to please their fan base. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying ODST was a bad game; it’s just that there was so much more that bungie could and should have done.

            Reach however goes a step above and beyond what we were all expecting with a whole host of new features for us to play around with.

Forge

            The first improvements I’ll discuss are the ones made to Forge. Forge for a long time has been my Favourite feature of the Halo Games, as it has allowed me to really let my creativity loose. So imagine my surprise when I no longer need to go through obscenely long measures just to get two walls to create a ‘cross’, all you avid Forgers out there will know of this frustration.

            The way that Bungie have counters this, is by allowing items/objects to have three states of existence. The State that has allowed me to crate without limitations, is ‘Phased’ this means that the object will not react to any other objects until placed, where it fixes itself into the map. Long gone are the days or setting spawn times just to merge objects.

            Another new thing that they have done is allowed us to forge on the Campaign maps, which I understand has got certain members of the community complaining about how ‘Bungie are too lazy to create Separate Multi-player maps’, However this is exactly what I have been looking and waiting for. Finally I can create an infection map on one of the ‘main’ levels.

            Bungie have also created the mother of all Forging maps, dubbed ‘Forge World’ this monster of a map allows you to create almost anything on it. I personally have created a number of levels on this, and am still finding out new things to do. The possibilities on Forge world really are endless.

            One final feature they have added to forge that really interests me, is the ability to colour certain pieces of scenery. You want that set of forerunner blocks over there to belong to the red team? No problem, just bring up the menu and change their colour to red. Problem solved, as simply as that.

            The controls feel much smoother on the whole as well, allowing players to do a whole lot more with their ideas. There is one criticism I have with Forge however, and that is the lack of ‘object zooming’, that’s right, the ability to move the object closer to the camera and vice versa. Instead this has been changed with the ability to ... move the camera closer to the object, which sort of ruins the whole aspect of the ‘Object zoom.’ Never the less, Forge has still managed to remain my all time Favourite part of the Halo Franchise.

Multiplayer

            Multiplayer itself has always been a large part of the Halo games, be it blasting each other with shotguns on the fabled Blood Gulch, or mowing each other down in warthogs on Zanzibar. The halo games have always delivered with Barrels of fun.

            Halo Reach is no exception to this and with the added ability to customize your Spartan with Armour that you have bought using the Credits you earned for simply being awesome, allows the player to feel more connected with the character, as they have built them up from scratch.

            There are a number of new multiplayer game types up for Grabs on Reach, including interesting variations of old classics, such as king of the hill. One G.T in particular has grabbed and held my attention off all others, this is Invasion. I think that part of its charm comes from the fact that you start off with quite useless weapons, then as your team progresses, you unlock new and incredibly awesome Armaments of Death and Doom.

            Invasion involves capturing territories in order to advance through the game. I know that this just sounds like a re-make of territories, but the point of Invasion, is that you cannot actually progress until you have captured the objective, be it blowing up a generator, or stealing a power core; This instils a kind of unity as your team, because you no longer split up to go after separate territories, you all band together in order to complete the objective and proceed.

            There have been criticisms about Matchmaking recently, as you cannot search for individual game types, only the categories they fall into (Rumble pit, Big team etc etc) However, I feel that this adds a nice little charm to the Halo online experience, as you have no idea what they next game type will be until you have a chance to vote. Again the whole voting proves could be viewed as a bad thing if you are the only one who wants to play Invasion, when the rest of the team all want Swat, but this just creates more variety in the game types, by throwing players out of their comfort zone which is not done very often in online games.

Campaign

            I’m sure you can all remember that beautiful moment from Combat Evolved when you stepped out of those tight corridors and into that lush green valley that seemed to stretch on for miles. If there is one thing that has remained memorable to the Halo campaign, it was how the player felt small in comparison to the chaos of the war. In no other Franchise, have I needed to fight off the Equivalent of three wraiths and a metric Shiz Ton of enemies.

            As with the last few Halo games, this one promises to pack a punch in terms of its campaign, what with a great story and great characters. Sadly there will be no Johnson … or Buck. Instead Bungie have made up for that fact with the delightful personas of Noble team. During my Time with noble team, I truly felt connected to them and (even though they are invincible, as with every campaign character in almost every game I know of) wanted to keep them safe and protect them.

            Sadly though, this campaign is not all that long, but what it lacks in size it makes up for in strength and determination. The story that Follows Reach is one of Comradeship, survival and hope.

            If you are one of those people crazy enough to own an Xbox 360 or not yet own Reach, I highly suggest heading over to the link at the top and picking up a copy, I hope you enjoy your time on reach as much as I did. 

                                                         Seddon